Carefully guarded borders

Author

Yekaterina Mikhailovna Zemmel, University of Tennessee

Date of Award

5-2009

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

English

Major Professor

Marilyn Kallet

Abstract

"Carefully Guarded Borders" is a collection of poetry that focuses on the experiences of individuals often seen as other--deviant women, gender transgressors, and immigrants. The poems, along with the critical introduction, present a challenge to linear trajectories of poetic descent by offering openness of interpretation, as well as openness of form. The collection is arranged associatively, and its thematic threads recur rhizomatically. Although at its inception "Carefully Guarded Borders" was a biographical account of the migration from Tajikistan to the United States, at the time of the manuscript's completion, this theme was subverted by cross-currents; the finished work questions borders at the same time as it reinforces their necessity in defining openness.

Recommended Citation

Zemmel, Yekaterina Mikhailovna, "Carefully guarded borders. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2009.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/5709